Rather than the impending disaster that characterizes much of the debate surrounding climate change, the article in the url below presents the need to act as an opportunity:
“Solving global warming will be an added cost, yes -- but a bargain compared with the economic cost of unchecked climate change. And fixing this problem will create an historic economic opportunity.”
This perspective contrasts strongly with the IPCC report on climate change that heralds an approaching disaster with potentially devastating economic consequences, while assuming a relatively static technological knowledge base into the future. Given the vast array of intellectual and entrepreneurial resources being dedicated to developing alternative solutions, the article argues that the last remaining piece of the puzzle is a legal environment that provides predictability and accurately prices carbon:
“These bold ideas are nearly ripe, but without a strong economic incentive they won't come to market at a speed and scale sufficient to beat the swift pace of global warming. The big money, the billions of dollars required to take these technologies to the necessary scale, remains on the sidelines, waiting until the U.S. Congress sets a cap on carbon and makes the rules of the game fair and clear.”
While I think that a carbon tax would be more effective and efficient than a cap-and-trade scheme, I wouldn’t expect the WSJ to agree and the general points of the author’s argument remain valid regardless:
“Under a cap-and-trade regime, Congress will set limits on greenhouse gas pollution, and ratchet down those limits over time. Congress won't dictate to business which technologies to use -- the marketplace will determine the ones that work best at the lowest cost. Cap-and-trade is a proven approach. When applied to acid rain pollution in the 1980s, it solved the problem faster and cheaper than anyone thought possible.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Climate Change Opportunity
By Fred Krupp
826 words
8 April 2008
The Wall Street Journal
A20
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120761565455196769.html
